Music

The Johnny Cash Festival is being held March 6, 2010 at the Secret Theatre in Long Island City, New York. Casual and hardcore fans alike of the Man In Black have plenty to enjoy in this multimedia event:

From 7-8 p.m., author Antonino D'Ambrosio will do a book signing and live reading from his new biography, A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears, complete with live musical accompaniment by members of the band Radio 4.

A country BBQ is available, including ribs, burgers, pulled pork sliders, corn on the cob and potato salad.

Co-sponsors Gibson Guitars and Universal/Lost Highway are giving away 2 Maestro Guitars (Gibson) and free Johnny Cash albums (Lost Highway). All ticket holders will be entered into the raffle, which will take place in the evening.

Lincoln Center presents its acclaimed series American Songbook 2010, running February 17 to 20, 2010, at the Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street in New York City. This is Lincoln Center’s 12th season celebrating the diversity of American popular song. The Allen Room possesses one of New York’s greatest settings – a stunning vista of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline that provides an evocative backdrop for the performers.

Leading the week’s series is Dee Dee Bridgewater: To Billie with Love - A Celebration of Lady Day. Dee Dee Bridgewater is American jazz royalty. A two-time Grammy winner, she has sung in concert and in recordings with Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Clarke and Dexter Gordon among other jazz giants. While some can hear Ella Fitzgerald, her greatest artistic inspiration, in the way she scats and swings, Bridgewater’s delivery of each lyric is uniquely her own. Equally successful in musicals, she won a Tony for The Wiz and an Olivier for Lady Day, along with critical acclaim for roles in Sophisticated Ladies and Cabaret. In this evening of song, Bridgewater will perform songs from her new CD, Eleanora Fagan (1917-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee.The second night’s artist, Nellie McKay, is critically acclaimed for her genre-crossing compositions, brilliant wordplay and terrific melodies. She has made two critically acclaimed albums of original songs. For her new CD, McKay is doing something different: Normal as Blueberry Pie – A Tribute to Doris Day. The songs, which McKay produced and arranged as well as performed, are from the 1940s big band era through to Day’s later film career. McKay interprets a selection of songs drawn from more than 600 of Day’s recordings and finds the reservoirs of deep feeling behind the sunny smile.

The third night’s show is a radical change of pace with Dirty Projectors, who defies categorization even after six albums. Described as everything from “New England soul music” to “completely strange and oddly familiar at the same time,” the Brooklyn-based band plays experimental rock that references everything from Congolese music to medieval antiphonal singing, synthesizing them into something altogether new. The group is led by David Longstreth, whose soaring vocals are paired with intricate guitar work, tight harmonies and more than a dose of genius.

The final week’s show features the fabulous, unstoppable Leslie Uggams. As a child she opened for acts including Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington at the Apollo Theater, then appeared at age 15 on TV's Name That Tune, catching the eye of Mitch Miller. Impressed with her vocal ability, Miller put her on Sing Along with Mitch and she entered American pop culture history, becoming the first African-American to be a regular on a national, prime-time series. Uggams went on to Broadway, earning a Tony for Hallelujah, Baby! and accolades for her work in On Golden Pond, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes and King Hedley II. She had her own musical variety show on CBS in 1970, was Emmy-nominated for her role as Kizzy in Roots, won an Emmy for her show Fantasy on NBC, and appeared in numerous feature films. Uggams tours the country appearing with major symphony orchestras and records in her splendid voice, most recently On My Way to You - The Songs of Marilyn and Alan Bergman.

Since it was launched in 1998, American Songbook has been dedicated to celebrating the extraordinary achievements of the popular American songwriter from the turn of the 20th century to the present day. Spanning all styles and genres from Tin Pan Alley and Broadway to the eclecticism of today’s songwriters working in pop, cabaret, rock, folk and country, American Songbook traces the history and charts the course of the American song from its past and current forms to its future direction.

From February 21 – 28, 2010, The Alaska Airlines/HorizonPortland Jazz Festival will celebrate its seventh year with performances at venues throughout the city. legendary saxophonist and John Coltrane collaborator Pharoah Sanders headlines the Festival which will also present New Music from Norway showcasing three North American premiere performances.

The Festival is a celebration of jazz music, Black History Month, and the City of Portland. Throughout the Festival there will be numerous events, including headlining ticketed concerts; free showcase performances highlighting regional talent; community performances co produced with our partners; and numerous educational opportunities.

The 2010 Festival has jazz outreach programming in area schools and community centers scheduled on Monday through Friday, February 21-26, leading up to a series of headline concerts Thursday through Sunday, February 25-28, throughout downtown and inner Eastside Portland venues.

Lauded as one of the top North American jazz events, the 7th annual Festival features jazz masters and emerging new artists including three-time Grammy Award-winning bassist, bandleader and composer Dave Holland Quintet, Sanders, the Mingus Big Band devoted since 1993 to the musical legacy of Charles Mingus, Brazilian vocalist Luciana Souza, and contemporary trumpeter Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy.

Additionally, Portland Jazz Festival’s annual thematic programming asks the provocative question "Is Jazz Dead (Or Has It Moved to a New Address)? – New Music from Norway," featuring North American premieres of leaders in Norway’s new and burgeoning jazz scene.

This “festival-within-a-festival” includes the avant-garde chamber jazz of the Christian Wallumrod Ensemble, the saxophone/ accordion duo of Trygve Seim & Frode Haltli, and the jazz/rock fusion of In The Country featuring Morten Qvenild (keyboards), Roger Arntzen (bass) and Pal Hausken (percussion).

This year’s festival theme shares the title with British jazz writer Stuart Nicholson’s critically acclaimed book on the contemporary state of jazz. Nicholson confronts traditional jazz musicians and audiences who insist on narrowly defining what jazz should be, while maintaining the importance of this music as being indigenously American. Nicholson claims that such rigidly defined art alienates younger audiences from jazz, and points to the exploding scene in Europe, specifically Norway, that has developed both a new culture and audience for jazz.

The inspiration for artistic director Bill Royston’s selection of these three Norwegian groups stems from his direct exposure to Norway’s jazz scene while travelling as part of an international delegation invited by the Norwegian government in 2008 to experience the major Scandinavian summer festivals.

“I found a rich and vibrant scene, featuring unconventional performers reinterpreting the American musical legacy and building a whole new jazz lexicon. I’m thrilled to share this discovery with our Jazz Festival audience,” says Royston. “The featured American jazz artists are intended as a counterpoint to the work of these exciting Norwegian musicians.”

Each of the Norwegian artists represents the vast diversity of Nordic music that has risen from an improvisational gumbo derived from jazz, classical, rock, folk, and even country music styles — pianist Christian Wallumrød, classically trained, performs haunting improvisations in a chamber music setting with an ensemble of cello, violin, Baroque harp, trumpet, percussion and piano; Trygve Seim, who performed with his large ensemble at the 2007 Portland Jazz Festival, has an impressive ability to combine unusual instrumentation like the present saxophone and accordion duo with Frode Haltli; the trio of In The Country comes from a more pop music base that blends jazz improvisation with driving rock rhythms and electronic experimentation. The diverse artists and their music hold a common bond that writer Nicholson refers to as the “Nordic Tone”, recognized by deep elongated notes at the center driven by pulsating rhythms and adventurous improvisations around the edge.

“Mingus and Coltrane always superseded traditional forms to create their own sound. They were above the fray, and the Mingus Big Band and Pharoah Sanders continue this legacy. Contemporary innovators like Dave Douglas, Luciana Souza and Dave Holland constantly strive to go beyond the limits of traditional jazz,” states Royston. “Similarly, the Norwegian artists have carefully studied American jazz, and developed a distinctive sound. They are the new visionaries, and this festival will affirm for Americans that a new jazz is very much alive!”

Jazz Education and Outreach

Jazz education and outreach events include performances of The Incredible Journey of Jazz, a Black History Month celebration staged in Portland area middle schools each February. The 60-minute musical/theater piece was originally developed by Portland State University professor and pianist Darrell Grant and the Leroy Vinnegar Jazz Institute.

The performance features seven actors and musicians who each play multiple roles in depicting the experiences of African-Americans through the history of jazz. Early scenes have students communicating through African rhythms, and then follow the evolution from gospel, blues, ragtime, Dixieland and New Orleans. Eventually, we witness the migration of Black Americans up the Mississippi River to Chicago and other industrial centers with the big band sounds of Ellington and Basie, to the bebop of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, contemporary experimentation of Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman, and ultimately to rap and hip hop.

Another key outreach component is the popular Jazz Conversations, one-on-one interviews with jazz headliners and members of the Jazz Journalists Association (JJA). These interviews are presented before a live audience in the intimate PCPA ArtBar throughout the festival. The sessions are recorded by KMHD-FM, Portland’s jazz radio station, for later broadcast and subsequently are available on the Portland Jazz Festival website, pdxjazz.com, for general listeners.

PDX Jazz Members have the advantage of reserving the best seats during the exclusive pre-sale period from October 13 – October 26. New and renewing members can join any time.

Starting Tuesday, October 27 at 10:00 AM PST Portland Jazz Festival tickets will be available to the general public at all TicketMaster locations, by calling 503-228-JAZZ (5299), or online at pdxjazz.com. Those who sign up for the PDX Jazz mailing list will receive the first notification when tickets go on sale to the public.

Founded in 2003, PDX Jazz, Portland’s jazz membership organization, presents both regional and international jazz artists throughout the year. Dedicated to nurturing jazz musicians and audiences, PDX Jazz is best known for its critically acclaimed Portland Jazz Festival. PDX Jazz also presents nearly 200 performances annually showcasing Portland jazz artists with the ongoing series PDX Jazz @ RiverPlace (RiverPlace Hotel) and PDX Jazz @ the ArtBar (Portland Center for the Performing Arts), as well as the annual PDX Jazz @ RiverFest each August along Portland’s South Waterfront.

Since 2003, Unsound, a music festival in Poland, has brought a modern program of music to Krakow and launched outpost events further east in cities like Minsk. This year, the Polish Cultural Institute, the Goethe-Institut and Fundacja Tone (the Tone Foundation) bring it west to New YorkCity for its first North American edition. Running February 4 – 14, 2010. Unsound Festival New York has drawn on a range of electronic, experimental, independent, post-classical and club music scenes in order to forge new links between musical genres, generations, and artistic practices.

Running at various Manhattan venues including the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center and the Goethe-Institut Wyoming Building in the East Village, the festival includes artists from both Europe and the US. One cornerstone is Eastern Promise, a element that aims to expose a wide range of musicians from east of Berlin. Coming to New York are techno artists Jacek Sienkiewicz (Poland), Petre Inspirescu (Romania), and Marcin Czubala (Poland), minimalist composer Jacaszek (Poland), experimentalist Zavoloka (Ukraine), bass mutator TRG (Romania), new-music ensemble Kwartludium (Poland), dub electronic artist Pavel Ambiont (Belarus), and drone specialist Zenial (Poland). A special exhibition of historical Polish Sound Postcards will also be on view.

A special series of events dedicated to and inspired by AndyWarhol, the Warhol Program, features the worldwide debut of electronic soundtracks by Carl Craig (USA) and nsi. (Germany) performed live to screenings of vintage Warhol (né Warhola) films, as well as the North American debut of Groupshow (Jan Jelinek, Andrew Pekler, and Hanno Leichtmann) from Germany, which will perform an eight-hour long live, improvised soundtrack to Andy Warhol's Empire. Video artist Lillevan (Germany) will create a special series of Warhol-inspired Screen Tests during the festival.

The festival also features the US live debut of the Moritz Von Oswald Trio (Germany), the US debut of Vladislav Delay (Finland), & Lillevan's audio / video performance, a special program of the music of Polish Composer Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki, classical interpretations of music from the US punk noise label SST, two nights of noise, drone, and experimental work, a Brooklyn electronic music showcase, two nights at the Bunker featuring contemporary Techno / House, and a Bass Mutations showcase dedicated to dubstep and beyond. In addition, the festival features Kids' Patch — a kids-only workshop in electronic music — and a series of panel discussions, workshops, and film screenings at the Goethe-Institu.